DRAGON BALL Z #25 - - Watch & Learn

I’ve had many episodes to dwell on these characters and my attention
has lingered - - as it does so unpredictability, sometimes - - on Nappa’s
Q-ball of a scalp. Considering how most of the Saiyans are defined by their outrageous,
shocked-up manes, there has to be some added significance when one among their ranks
is as bald as he is. I mean, isn’t the whole notion of seeking Super Saiyan
ascendancy kind of cocked-up when he doesn’t have any hair that can go gold and
shiny?

Considering how it’s repeatedly stressed how this big, lumbering oaf is
subservient to this slight, diminutive Prince Vegeta, I can’t help but wonder
if there’s a deliberate rearrangement of authority and an implicit caste system
being represented here. Again, this is a show where hair fundamentally equals
power. Krillin is so consistently
impotent that he’s one of the show’s most reliable punchlines, and now we see
Tien, another baldly, proving to be just as ineffectual against the bad guys.

The strengths of Piccolo, Buu and the like don’t really disprove this either,
because they’re inhuman creatures who aren’t expected to have hair. When you see a character in DBZ - - be he
human or Saiyan - - who is notably missing hair that his peers have, you
immediately understand that he’s less powerful. No, Toriyama probably wasn’t
trying to push some follicle agenda, but the notion is there, and if he subconsciously incorporated
it into the story, then there probably is something more to it.

More to than we have space for here, though. While I’ve still got
space, I’ll just say… poor Chiaotzu!

Watch this
episode,“Sacrifice"
here and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode
here.

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number
of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - -tompinchuk.com

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk

Not a bad theory, but you're forgetting about Yamcha. He's probably the weakest of all the Z fighters and is usually the first to die. Krillin is actually the most powerful human in the series, he's just constantly overshadowed by aliens.